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5. Museum Work. —Comparatively little work has been done in the Museum, owing to the fact.that a great deal of our time was occupied in preparing the specimens sent to the Exhibition. For this purpose 1 set the taxidermist to work to stuff a series of food-fishes, to replace those that had done service for many years. These newly stuffed fishes have been painted so as to resemble as accurately as we could the living fish which served as our models. The taxidermist also made a plaster cast of a fine specimen of Torpedo fusca, but our experiments in making casts of other fishes were unsatisfactory. These fishes on their return from Christchurch were added to the collection. The Public Works Department removed temporarily most of the fine specimens of polished slabs and blocks of native wood, as well as the various samples of building-stones, for the purpose of exhibiting them at Christchurch. Their removal necessitated the partial rearrangement of the cases in the room in which they were exhibited, and the adornment of the walls by the suspension of various ethnological objects which had hitherto been stored in the basement for lack of space. The wood and stones have been returned, but the heavy blocks of schist, <fee, have not been replaced in the Museum. Additions to the Collections on Exhibition. The following are the most important objects added to the collections on exhibition : — A. New Zealand Zoology. —Fishes : Lemon sole, brill, red-cod, skipper, garfish, butterfish, blue-cod, black-cod, haddock, warehou, blenny, wrasse, John-dory, barracouta, moki, sea-perch, tarakihi, and others, painted to life. The habits and life-history of species of boring-beetles (Ophryops allisus, Ambeodontus pristis, Anobium domesticum), shown by portions of wood into which the larvae had bored, with larvae, pupae in position, and the imago alongside. B. Foreign Zoology. —The -most noticeable are-—A specimen of the reddish spiny lizard (Moloch horridus), a gruesome reptile that is coloured like the sand of West Australia, where it lives. A gigantic tadpole of the frog (Hyla aured), which measures nearly 6 in., instead of the customary 2 in., in length, was captured in a pond at Waitaki; Mr. R. Roberts. C. Palceontology, Geology, dec. —A particularly interesting addition is the internal cast of the brain-cavity, showing the form of the brain, of the extinct whale (Squalodon) which frequented our shores in prehistoric times; it was obtained at Milburn. A fossil crab and crayfish, more or less complete, from Otago; also fine specimens of the extinct nautiloid (Hercoglossa) from the Hokonui Hills; and a mass of the gigantic barnacle (Pollicipes aucklandica). A beautiful artificial mineral, carborundum, manufactured at the Niagara Falls works, was presented by Mr. Barningham. D. Ethnology, &c. —The Defence Department presented to the Museum a Mauser rifle and a Martini-Henry which had been used in the South African War: these have been exhibited in a case' with some ancient firearms. A few East African spears, &c, forming part of a small collection received from the Royal Museum of Vienna in exchange for a fragment of the Makarewa meteorite, have been placed on view ; also a Dyak paddle and shell adze, and some Samoan articles of dress. E. Teaching-collect ion. —As no accommodation exists for the preparations required in illustration of the classes in biology, paleontology, and odontology, these have to be kept in t lieMuseum cases. The additions include a human skull, with bones of jaw excavated to show the permanent dentition and roots of the teeth, and child's skull similarly prepared to show the milk and permanent dentitions; also a monkey's skull prepared in the same way, with a complete set of the teeth mounted separately. Summary of Acquisitions during 1906. A. New Zealand Zoology. — The register contains entries showing that a total of eighty-five specimens of animals were received at the Museum. Some of these were forwarded for identification, with a request for information about their habits, <fee. A few have already been incorporated in the exhibited series; others are stored; others, of no interest, have been destroyed. Amongst the more interesting are the specimens of sheep's shoulder-bone opened by keas for the purpose of extracting the marrow; a peculiar long-legged weta, found in a cave in the Horse Range, near Moeraki. Fine Beroes, from Little Barrier Island, are new to the country, and are described by me in the forthcoming volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. Mr. R. Henry has forwarded several interesting specimens from Dusky Sound. B. Foreign Zoology. —A dozen specimens have been received, the most important of which was the body of a llama, presented by the proprietors of Bostock's Circus, the skin of which is now being prepared for exhibition; the skins of a black and a yellow gibbon from Sumatra, presented by Mr. Havard ; the gigantic tadpole and moloch already referred to. C. Palceontology, Botany, dec. —Under this heading are ten entries, including a specimen of the interesting mineral tasmania, presented by Dr. Black; and some opals from White Cliffs, New South Wales, presented by Mr. Turley, deserve mention. D. Ethnology, etc —About fifty separate articles were received, including thirty-four specimens from East Africa, and four articles of Siamese pottery received in exchange from the Vienna Museum; a food-bowl from New"Guinea, presented by Professor Gibbons; medals, bronze and gold, presented by Mr. A. Bathgate; rifles, by the Defence Department: articles from Borneo, by Mr. Havard : and'Samoan dresses, &c, by Mrs. James Mills. List of Donors of New Zealand. Specimens. To the following donors I have already sent formal acknowledgment of their gifts, and I should like again to express my thanks to them, and to state that specimens of native insects, spiders, shells, birds, lizards, and fishes, as well as fossils, are- always welcome, more especially if any notes on habits, &c, are contributed.